Canaveral Bar Hours Go To Vote Tavern Owners Say Change Inevitable

October 15, 1985|By Stephen Kindland of The Sentinel Staff

CAPE CANAVERAL — Opposition by bar owners to a proposed ordinance that would close bars two hours earlier probably won't be as intense as a similar battle that ended Oct. 1 when Cocoa Beach city commissioners voted to make the same change.

Two Cape Canaveral bar owners said Monday they believe the city council already has made up its mind to change the closing time from 4 a.m. to 2 a.m. Council members will vote after a first reading of the proposed ordinance at today's 7:30 p.m. council meeting.

A final hearing is scheduled for Nov. 5.

The bar owners said the handwriting has been on the wall since Cocoa Beach commissioners compromised on a 2 a.m. closing about a month after Mayor Bob Lawton proposed a 1 a.m. shutdown.

The vote came despite protests from dozens of business owners and the 87- member Cocoa Beach Licensed Beverage Association.

The two owners also said talk among county commissoners about changing closing times in unincorporated areas from 3 a.m. to an earlier time is a sign that a movement for countywide uniformity has begun.

Jim Morgan, owner of Diamond Ginny's on State Road A1A and the Straw Hat on North Atlantic Avenue, both in Cape Canaveral, said the proposed ordinance is more a ''probability than a possibility.''

He said Mayor Wayne Rutherford, who faces a challenge from Patrick Lee in a Nov. 5 election, ''is getting a lot of mileage'' out of his stance on the proposed ordinance because ''a lot of old folks who have had their day in the sun'' support the change.

Rutherford proposed the ordinance during a city council workshop last week. Dean Rutledge, owner of the Lamp Post on S.R. A1A, said the four city council members ''don't have a mind of their own,'' and that he wouldn't attend tonight's meeting because ''they've got their minds made up.''

Rutledge said he wouldn't mind a compromise on a 2 a.m. closing Sunday through Thursday and a 3 a.m. closing on Fridays and Saturdays.

Diamond Ginny's, the Straw Hat and the Lamp Post all are open until 4 a.m. Arguments against the change are similar to those voiced during two emotionally charged city commission meetings in Cocoa Beach.

Several owners said then that changing the hours would hurt business, and that earlier closings discriminate against shift workers at Port Canaveral, which borders Cape Canaveral, as well as nearby military personnel and aerospace employees who work late.

But Rutherford has said the change is necessary to help reduce traffic accidents and the number of police calls between 2 and 4 a.m.

Councilman Jerry Fischetti agreed Monday, adding that he doesn't want Cape Canaveral to become the only city in Brevard with bars that stay open until 4 a.m.

He also said he expects many of the people who voiced opposition in Cocoa Beach to attend tonight's meeting, but the number does not represent a majority of opinion.

Fischetti said that if the ordinance were put to a referendum on the Nov. 5 general elections ballot, as some opponents have proposed, the closing time ''could perhaps get pushed back to an even earlier hour.''